KIRO 7 Eyewitness News reporter Essex Porter spoke with the first couples who will be married at City Hall.

Diane Butzberger and Amanda Ruff have been together 10 years, and were joined in a Holy Union ceremony 8 years ago. But today, they were at the King County Administration Building in Seattle to get a license to be married.

"Everybody knows what that means," Butzberger said. "It’s just accepted and it's really that word (married)."

They are now enjoying an acceptance that has been painful to achieve.

"We've had to fight insurance companies," Ruff said. "And we've had struggles with different sort of institutions that we've had to live under all these years."

Because Ruff had final exams at Evergreen State College this morning, the couple could not brave the long lines to get a license overnight.

But they made reservations early, and are now third on the list of couples to be married at Seattle City Hall.

"We know a lot of faces who are going to be in that crowd on Sunday and we all get to celebrate it together," Butzberger said.

Ruff said between the two of them, nothing will change. "We've been married in this way in our minds from day one in 2004."

But Buztberger grows emotional when she thinks of what their marriage will say to society.

"This woman standing next to me has been my rock for the last 10 years and now, even though I've said it for 10 years, everybody's going to really know what that means, you know, that everybody else will recognize it too,” said Buztberger.